Three states pass new childhood gender protection bills

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP) — Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee are the latest states to pass new legislation protecting minors from transgender surgery and hormonal treatment.

The three states join Utah and South Dakota bringing to five the number of states that prohibit gender-changing medical treatment on children.

Similar bills are progressing in 22 states, according to tracking sites.

While a 2021 law in Arkansas is enjoined in federal court, the Arkansas legislature sent a new bill March 8 to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to strengthen legal protections for minors.

The Arkansas bill would extend to 18 years past adulthood the amount of time minors who received such treatment can bring legal action against their doctors, a move experts say would adversely impact a physician’s ability to obtain malpractice insurance. The bill, as passed, does not apply to children born “with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development,” a stipulation widely present in such legislation.

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